Saturday, 11 June 2011

Karma is a rising talent we've had our eye on for a while here at Hedmuk as he brings something genuinely unique to the table in terms of his production. With a background in making hip-hop beats and drawing influence from a wide spectrum of bass-led music, Karma blends laid-back melodies with carefully constructed, weighty basslines and tight rhythms to make music equally at home in headphones as on a big club system. We caught up with him for an interview to discuss all of this, aswell as his recent move in signing to MindStep Music and got him to put down a mix for our ever-expanding series.

Hedmuk: To introduce yourself, what's your name, where are you from and how would you describe your sound?K: Hi, I'm Corin (AKA Karma), and im from Penge, South-East London. I would describe my sound as sub-heavy bass music ranging between 130-150Bpm. I try to make captivating music, which could go off in a club, or be listened to at home.

H: Are you from a musical background, or is it something that you have picked up yourself?K: Fairly, I've always been fascinated by music from a young age and I've been playing the drums for about 8 years now. My granddad worked for UNESCO back in the day, recording tribal music around the world, and he left me a huge archive of records he recorded which I've made much use of in my music since.

H: Where, or from whom, do you take your influence when it comes to making a tune?K: Alot from Dub/Reggae, which was sort of my gateway into Dubstep at first, but also Jungle, and 90's Hip-Hop. The thing is, I find inspiration comes from everywhere, not just music. It can come from the city I live in, the places I go, people I meet, even the colour of the sky!

H: Does being from London, the city responsible for such an influence on the dubstep sound, bear a particular significance to you in terms of the music you make?K: Most definitely. London is without a doubt the central hub for almost all genres of dance music which have influenced and helped create what Dubstep is today, from Acid House, to Jungle, to Garage. London therefore has that atmosphere/energy to it. I admire the evolution and roots of these genres, which I try to incorporate into my music, so that whatever you're into you can find that little hint of Jungle or Garage, or whatever may suit you.

H: You've recently signed to MindStep Music: how did that come about?K: Well, I'd been making music for roughly 5 years and was getting really frustrated just sitting on tracks, so I started sending them out to people. It was hard getting noticed at first, Crises was one of the first DJs who took an interest. I then bumped into him down at FWD>> one time, and we got chatting about where we could go from there. I kept sending him tunes after that, and well.. here we are now!

H: You make a wide variety of beats, taking in hip hop and some grime: is this something that comes naturally? Do you plan to work with vocal artists in the future at all?

K: I used to make Hip-Hop before, so have worked with quite a few vocalists/MCs in the past. At this stage, with the music I'm making, and pushing, I'd like to keep things instrumental but I do have plans and ideas for the near future to work with vocalists, but not just yet.

H: Tell us a little about how you went about putting together the mix you've done for us.K: The mix I've recorded is sort of a showcase of my interpretation of the sound. Plenty of dubs from myself and a few other artists who I feel are pushing a similar sound, and have a similar perception of the genre.

H: Finally, is there anything forthcoming or in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on?

K: I have a forthcoming EP on Mindstep. No dates yet, but keep a look out!
Peace, and thanks for all the support: one love!